ICC Investigation A Chance For Accountability
BHRN welcomes a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it can exercise jurisdiction to investigate the deportation and force transfer of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people from Burma to Bangladesh as a possible crime against humanity.
“We support this move by the ICC. We call on international actors to back this investigation and to demand the prosecution of Burma’s generals,” said BHRN Executive Director Kyaw Win. “We must continue to advocate for justice not only in the case of the expulsion of the Rohingya, but also for the wide range of atrocities that the Tatmadaw has committed against so many communities in Burma.”
In Burma, Prison for Reporters and Impunity for Generals
3 September 2018, London, UK – The conviction of two Reuters journalists by a Yangon court signals another failure by the National League for Democracy administration to protect human rights and press freedom in Burma, and stands in stark contrast to the impunity enjoyed by the military for the crimes that these reporters exposed.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday for violating the Official Secrets Act in their reporting of a 2017 massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. They have been held in the notorious Insein Prison since December of last year.
Rohingya Facing Dire Circumstances During Monsoon Season
Acknowledgements
This report was researched and written by a BHRN team who has to remain anonymous for security reasons, and edited by Richard Potter, a researcher in BHRN, with the support of BHRN’s Executive Director Kyaw Win. BHRN is grateful to the community members who shared their stories with BHRN to make this documentation project possible.
About BHRN
The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) was founded in 2012 and works for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in Burma. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for these principles with politicians and world leaders.
BHRN is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), and private donors. We have members across Burma and on the Thailand and Bangladeshi borders. Any information we receive is checked for credibility by experienced journalists and researchers in the organization. We publish press releases and reports after our own investigations.
